When he guided them to the direction from which they could recognize the Prophet's [blessings and peace be upon him] matter and what he brought, until they could discover its truth and its secret, and the distinction of its truth from its falsehood. He said to them: 'So if you do not oppose him, and it becomes easy for you what you seek, and it becomes clear to you that it is beyond your capability, then the truth has been declared in its purity and belief is obligatory, so believe and fear the punishment prepared for those who lie.' In it are two evidences for establishing prophethood: the correctness of the challenge being miraculous, and the announcement that they will not do it, which is an unseen matter that only Allah knows. If you say: 'The absence of their coming with a surah is necessary, then why was

We heard from the Arabs who say: The fire has been ignited with a high fuel. Then he said: And the fuel is more, and the fuel is wood. And 'Isa ibn Umar al-Hamdani read it with a dhamma, naming it by the source, as it is said: So-and-so is the pride of his people and the adornment of his land. It may be like your saying: The life of the shining lamp, meaning its life is only through it, so the essence of the shining lamp is its life. If you say: The connection of 'the one who' and 'the one who' must be a known story to the addressee, how did those know that the fire of the Hereafter is fueled by people and stones? I say: It is not impossible that they had previously heard this from the People of the Book, or they heard it from the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, or they heard before this verse His saying in Surah Al-Tahrim (A fire whose fuel is people and stones). If you say: Why is the fire described by this phrase indefinite in Surah Al-Tahrim, and here it is definite? I say: That verse was revealed in Mecca, so they knew from it a fire described by this attribute. Then this was revealed in Medina. [Mahamud, may Allah have mercy on him, said: 'This verse was revealed in Medina after the verse of Tahrim was revealed in Mecca... etc.' Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him, means by the verse His saying: (Protect yourselves and your families from a fire whose fuel is people and stones). But I have not found any disagreement among the interpreters that Surah Al-Tahrim is Medinan, and what it contains of the well-known story is the most truthful witness to that. It seems that Al-Zamakhshari erred in stating that it is Meccan.] This refers to what they first knew.

If you say: What is the meaning of His saying: 'Its fuel is people and stones'? I say: Its meaning is that it is a fire distinguished from other fires, in that it is ignited only by people and stones, and that other fires, if they are intended to burn people with them or to heat stones, are first ignited with fuel, then what is intended to be burned or heated is thrown into it. And that—may Allah protect us from it by His vast mercy—is ignited by the very thing that is burned and heated by the fire, and that due to its excessive heat and intense brightness, if it comes into contact with something that fire does not ignite, it ignites and its flame rises. If you say: Is the entire Hellfire fueled by people and stones, or are there various fires, one of which is of this description? I say: Rather, there are various fires, one of which is fueled by people and stones, as indicated by its indefiniteness in His saying: (Protect yourselves and your families from a fire), (And I warned you of a fire that blazes). And perhaps for the disbelievers among the jinn and their devils there is a fire whose fuel is the devils, just as for the disbelievers among humans there is a fire whose fuel is them, as a recompense for each kind according to its corresponding punishment. If you say: Why were people mentioned alongside stones and made stones a fuel with them? I say: Because they associated themselves with them in this world, where they carved them into idols and made them rivals to Allah or worshipped them besides Him: Allah, the Exalted, said: (Indeed, you and what you worship besides Allah are the fuel of Hell). And this verse explains what we are discussing.

So His saying: (Indeed, you and what you worship besides Allah) is in the meaning of people and stones, and (the fuel of Hell) is in the meaning of its fuel. And when the disbelievers believed in their worshipped stones besides Allah that they are intercessors and witnesses who intercede for them and repel harm from themselves by their position, Allah made them their punishment, so He associated them with it, heated in the fire of Hell, to intensify their pain and deepen their regret. [The phrase 'and deepen their regret' may be: 'and drown them,' with a ghain.] And similar to them are what is done to the hoarders who made their gold and silver a means and a reserve, hoarding it and withholding it from its rights, where it is heated upon them in the fire of Hell, and their foreheads and sides are branded with it. And it is said: It is stones of sulfur, which is a specification without evidence and a departure from what is the correct meaning that is evidenced by the meanings of the revelation prepared for them and made a means for their punishment. And Abdullah read: 'I have prepared,' from 'prepared' meaning 'to prepare.'